Matteo Guendouzi has joined Marseille for the season on loan ahead of a permanent move there next summer.

Matteo Guendouzi signing for Marseille (Photo via OM.fr)
Matteo Guendouzi signing for Marseille (Photo via OM.fr)

Marseille have confirmed that Matteo Guendouzi will spend the 2021/22 season on loan with them.

The Ligue side will pay around €1m for the year-long loan before stumping up another €10m to purchase the midfielder due to an obligatory purchase clause.

Arsenal had wanted to get around €20m for the 22-year-old but, despite multiple suitors that should have generated a bidding war, Guendouzi seemed only interested in moving to the Velodrome.

He was so enamoured by the proposal they put in front of him not even Borussia Dortmund nor Unai Emery, the man who made him a first-team starter at Arsenal, could turn his head. Arsenal even tried to include him in a swap deal for Nuno Tavares, but Guendouzi wasn’t moved.

Whatever really happened between Mikel Arteta and Matteo Guendouzi, for a club desperate for both good players and more money, the whole thing seems like awful management all around.